In this landmark contribution to the study of the formation of the modern school, Daniel Tröhler applies one of the most recognized methods of historical research to an analysis of the "language" of the academic discipline of education. Arguing the value of looking at languages rather than arguments--langues rather than paroles--this method of historical research is used to examine the background of different philosophies, theories, or arguments of education, specifically...

Never before published, this book features George Herbert Mead's illuminating lectures on the Philosophy of Education at the University of Chicago during the early 20th century. These lectures provide unique insight into Mead's educational thought and reveal how his early psychological writings on the social character of meaning and the social origin of reflective consciousness was central in the development of what Mead referred to as his social conception of education. The introduction t...

Contributing to interdisciplinary discussions on nationalism, the book explores how educational systems and practices contribute to the phenomena of nationalism and nation-building.Using nine comparative case studies from four continents, the book elaborates a theoretical understanding of nationalism from the perspectives of comparative education research. It integrates the theme of nation, nation-building and nationalism and its involvement with issues of education. It explores th...

A Cultural History of Education in the Age of Enlightenment presents essays that examine the following key themes of the period: church, religion and morality; knowledge, media and communications; children and childhood; family, community and sociability; learners and learning; teachers and teaching; literacies; and life histories.The Age of Enlightenment is characterized by a growing belief in the human capacity to change the world. This volume shows how the educational e...

This insightful Handbook employs key historical and philosophical research to develop a new culturally sensitive theory of education that fosters open dialogue across national, disciplinary and ideological boundaries.Leading international scholars examine core concepts within their economic, political and social contexts, exploring their impact on the soul, heart, mind and emotions, as well as self-understanding and invested personal growth. By tracing their evolution, the contribu...

This book offers a geographically unique cultural comparative lens to examine the issue of transnational curriculum knowledge (re)production. Prompted by the ongoing competency-based curriculum reforms on a global scale, this book examines where global frameworks like the OECD’s core competency definitions are rooted and how they are borrowed, resisted, and/or re-contextualized in various European states with a Christian, foremost Protestant educational–cultural heritage and Asian countrie...

As contemporary education becomes increasingly tied to global economic power, national school systems attempting to influence one another inevitably confront significant tensions caused by differences in heritage, politics, and formal structures. Trajectories in the Development of Modern School Systems provides a comprehensive theoretical and empirical critique of the reform movements that seek to homogenize schooling around the world. Informed by historical and sociological insig...

The latest volume in the World Yearbook of Education Series explores the relationship between education and the globally prevalent principle of nationalism. This book identifies the diverse ways in which educational policies, discourses, curricula and pedagogy embed and promote the concept of "the nation" both historically and in the age of globalization. By challenging accounts owed to the discourse of "globalization" which conceal the presence of national epistemologies and inte...

This book is a comparative history that explores the social, cultural, and political formation of the modern nation through the construction of public schooling. It asks how modern school systems arose in a variety of different republics and non-republics across four continents during the period from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century. The authors begin with the republican preoccupation with civic virtue – the need to overcome self-interest in order to take up the c...

Tracing historical and cultural factors which gave rise to the Nordic Education Model, this volume explores why Northern European education policy has become an international benchmark for schooling.The text explains the historical connection between a Nordic ideal of democracy and schooling, and indicates how values of equality, welfare, justice, and individualism might be successfully integrated in national school systems and curricula around the world. The volume also highlights...

National myths are now seriously questioned in a number of societies. In the West, for instance, a number of factors have combined to destabilise the symbolic foundation of nations and collective identities. As a result, the diagnosis of a deep cultural crisis has become commonplace. Indeed, who today has not heard about the erosion of common values or the undermining of social cohesion? But to efficiently address this issue, do we know enough about the nature and role of myths in modern a...

The idea of race may be outdated, as many commentators and scholars, working in a broad range of different fields in the sciences and humanities, have argued over many years. Nevertheless, it remains one of the most persistent forms of human classification. Theories of race primitivism (the idea that there is a 'natural' racial hierarchy and ranking order of 'inferior' and 'superior' races), race biologism (the belief that people can be classified by genetic features which are shared by me...